title: Update on tick-borne rickettsioses around the world: a geographic approach.
abstract: Tick-borne rickettsioses are caused by obligate intracellular bacteria belonging to the spotted fever group of the genus Rickettsia. These zoonoses are among the oldest known vector-borne diseases. However, in the past 25 years, the scope and importance of the recognized tick-associated rickettsial pathogens have increased dramatically, making this complex of diseases an ideal paradigm for the understanding of emerging and reemerging infections. Several species of tick-borne rickettsiae that were considered nonpathogenic for decades are now associated with human infections, and novel Rickettsia species of undetermined pathogenicity continue to be detected in or isolated from ticks around the world. This remarkable expansion of information has been driven largely by the use of molecular techniques that have facilitated the identification of novel and previously recognized rickettsiae in ticks. New approaches, such as swabbing of eschars to obtain material to be tested by PCR, have emerged in recent years and have played a role in describing emerging tick-borne rickettsioses. Here, we present the current knowledge on tick-borne rickettsiae and rickettsioses using a geographic approach toward the epidemiology of these diseases.
authors.affiliation: Aix Marseille Université, Unité de Recherche en Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), UM63, CNRS 7278, IRD 198, Inserm 1095, WHO Collaborative Center for Rickettsioses and Other Arthropod-Borne Bacterial Diseases, Faculté de Médecine, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Parola
authors.forename: Christopher D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Paddock
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Socolovschi
authors.forename: Marcelo B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Labruna
authors.forename: Oleg
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Mediannikov
authors.forename: Tahar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kernif
authors.forename: Mohammad Yazid
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Abdad
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stenos
authors.forename: Idir
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Bitam
authors.forename: Pierre-Edouard
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Fournier
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D000569:Americas / Q000453:epidemiology; D000818:Animals; D001208:Asia / Q000453:epidemiology; D044362:Australasia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001907:Boutonneuse Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012282:Rickettsia Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D012373:Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D017282:Tick-Borne Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D013987:Ticks / Q000382:microbiology*